STARKVILLE – Mississippi State’s 2025 season came to an end on Black Friday in an ugly Egg Bowl loss at home to No. 7 Ole Miss.
The Bulldogs finish the year 5-7, managing just one SEC win after a 4-0 start through nonconference play to finish year two under head coach Jeff Lebby without bowl eligibility.
An occasion normally marked by weirdness, the Egg Bowl hostilities apparently began long before kick-off as Ole Miss head coach (for now) Lane Kiffin alleged on SEC Network pregame that MSU students had been caught on security cameras breaking into the visiting locker room and stealing the jersey of quarterback Trinidad Chambliss.
Yahoo Sports reporter Ross Dellenger confirmed the report as the game was about to kick off and noted that authorities had surveillance of a vehicle as well for the 3 a.m. robbery.
As for the game itself, both teams scored on their respective opening drives, and Ole Miss added another to take a 14-7 lead early in the game. Both defenses woke up after that point, and a missed field goal was the closest either team got to scoring again until just before halftime.
Ole Miss had a drive into MSU territory with just over four minutes to go, and a scramble for a supposed fumble led to some extracurriculars and unsportsmanlike conduct penalties. The MSU defense managed to hold even after the call was changed to an incomplete pass, and it led a field goal drive to cut the lead to 14-10, but left plenty of time for the visitors to take another shot.
Chambliss led a 75-yard drive in just over a minute and found De’Zhaun Stribling for a score to make it 21-10 before the half.
The Bulldogs received to start the second half and added another field goal to their tally, but the defense continued to struggle in their attempts to slow down the visitors from the school up north. The Rebels answered right back with three points of their own and then scored a touchdown to open the fourth quarter, making it even clearer to the Bulldogs that it would take touchdowns to get back in the game.
The only glimmer of hope for the Bulldogs came from Taylor’s second touchdown of the day, a 35-yard scramble to escape a sack and weave through a chaotic jumble of defensive linemen to break into the open and run into the end zone.
If MSU fans could leave with something, it was the hope for the future with the Noxubee County product under center. They certainly weren’t leaving with memories of lifting the Golden Egg, which went to Ole Miss for the fifth time in six years. MSU hasn’t won the game at home since 2019.
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